The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered one of the most significant holders of that office in US history. Although numerous vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unidentified aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the correct action to do back then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view presently."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a document detailing circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were both weak or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen come out of his lair? That is a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his $258,394 during his time as military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
